


Behold a King Shall Reign

by BouncyBrittonie



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Eggsy Unwin as Guinevere, First Kiss, Harry Hart as Arthur, Harry's coronation, M/M, Merlin eternally suffers, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 00:39:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19712782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BouncyBrittonie/pseuds/BouncyBrittonie
Summary: "Long live my King.”He could hear Eggsy’s voice in his mind, moving along with the flow of his lips, and he could see the flutter of his eyelashes as they closed. If Merlin had not have asked the crowd to stand and allowed them to leave, Harry would have crossed the floor to bow before his Queen and plead with him to stay.But instead, he looked up a second time, and Eggsy was gone.





	Behold a King Shall Reign

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elletromil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elletromil/gifts).



> I've been writing this on and off for more than a year, since my lovely treasure Elle wrote me a ficlet from a plot bunny I shoved into her lap.
> 
> I want to thank her for being so patient with me, and inspiring me through he own writing. Please check out her works! She's under Elletromil here!
> 
> Also thank you to Amy aka Skydorkers for beta-ing for me! Picked up some embarrassing mistakes, I can tell you.

_ “Rise, Sir Arthur! Long live the King!” _

Kingsman protocol was very much based in the pomp and circumstance of history, and at times, Harry had to admit, it was all very much an excuse for a show. But the former Knight couldn’t begrudge them that, he knew better than anyone that this was a life where the only praise ever really came from his fellow Kingsmen.

This was a world of their own; and now, he was their leader, so the theatrics were a pleasure for Harry to partake.

Merlin’s voice thundered through the chamber, echoing off the stone walls and floor. It was a room that Harry could have sworn was above ground, for it was like the sun shone through the stained glass windows that lined the borders; but underground he had ventured, and underground he had stayed, as Merlin had lead him through the corridors beneath the manor.

He had paused before the oak doors, before the room that was not used except for coronations (a coronation just like his own) and took a breath. Merlin was at his left hand, and he wished so terribly that the person he longed for the most was at his right. He had known that Eggsy was in that room, beyond those doors, but he felt his absence like an ache in his very chest.

He had felt Merlin's hand on his shoulder, and he held his head high, and stepped inside.

_ "Long live the King!" _

Lined with wooden pews, the whole of the hall was full with Kingsmen Knights, attendants, and faculty, both in the flesh, and robed in the blue of the glasses hologram, and they all rose from their seats and stood to attention at the sight of him.

As per tradition, all members of Kingsman had on their formal dress, and it was a room full of polished brass buttons, crisp shirts, even more finely tailored suits. And in the splendor, all Harry wanted was to find his light, his protector, his Guinevere, the codename that Merlin had bestowed upon Eggsy, and informed him about with a twitch of a grin upturning his lips.

He could not remember much from the coma, he could remember fading into it with so much pain, and then there was nothing except the darkness. But it was safe, and weightless, and felt like comfort, and was permeated by the low hum of a voice that warmed him to his very core.

Harry knew that time had passed, could feel it in his bones, in the flesh knitted together around his eye, the wounds on his back. But he awoke with a gasp of Eggsy's name on his lips.

He wasn't there, but there was still the warmth of his hand in his, and the scent of his aftershave lingering amidst the smell of antiseptic and bleach.

Harry had wished that he would see him again. Hoped that maybe he had stepped out for relief of the medbay walls. Then time went by, and the ache in his chest grew at the absence of the young man, obviously scared away from his awakened state by the memories of their last encounter.

It was an act of sheer hurt pride that Harry had regretted until the end, and when he found himself in the line of the barrel of Valentine's gun, his final thoughts were of Eggsy, and the apology his  _ wished _ he could give. The wish continued to this very day.

_ "Long live the King!" _

And when Harry had turned to face the crowd of his Kingsmen, he finally was able to lay his eyes on his Eggsy, in his full splendor, and his breath caught in his throat.

Eggsy was tucked into the corner at the end of the first row, where he was sure that he wouldn't be noticed in the crowd. Dressed in a slim dark grey suit, he was fitted to perfection. And Harry realized that this was the first time that he had caught more than a glimpse of Eggsy dressed in a proper Kingmen tailored suit.

His gaze had been soft, so soft, and just that little bit teary, sad, like he was afraid that this was the last time that he would ever be privy to the sight of him. 

When nothing could be further from the truth.

Throughout the whole of the coronation, he could feel the weight of a hundred eyes upon him, but none were more important than those of Merlin at his side, and Eggsy from the corner.

And when Merlin lifted the sword from his shoulder, and took his hand to help him gracefully from where he knelt at his feet, it took Harry everything he had not to extend his own hand out to Eggsy, to take his place at his side. Instead, he placed his palm against the glowing screen of Merlin's issued tablet, and watched as the system took in his palm print. He could almost  _ feel _ all of the protocols adapt to their new master, like a series of locks and tumblers clicking into place.

But Harry’s attention was drawn away from Merlin’s hands, and towards Eggsy’s shining face in the corner. Fear fluttered in his chest like a hundred caged butterflies, like if he didn’t take this chance, this would be the last time that he would ever get to be this close. Like Eggsy would just leak through his fingers, like smoke.

_ ”Long live my King.”  _ He could hear Eggsy’s voice in his mind, moving along with the flow of his lips, and he could see the flutter of his eyelashes as they closed. If Merlin had not have asked the crowd to stand and allowed them to leave, Harry would have crossed the floor to bow before his Queen and plead with him to stay.

But instead, he looked up a second time, and Eggsy was gone. 

\-----

When Harry awoke in his hospital bed for the second time, Merlin was the one taking vigil in his visitors chair. He could not help but show his disdain, although it could have well been masked by the pain radiating from the freshly healing wound behind his eye. 

“Not who ye were expectin?” Merlin looked tired, but happy, with his leg crossed over his knee and his pad laying glowing on the bedside table, and Harry could not help himself but to stretch his hand out to Merlin, who took it between his own. He was home. With the people that he loved, and that love filled his chest with such an overwhelming feeling of safety that it brought tears to his good eye. “Harry…”

“Thought I was gone, Hamish, thought I was-”

He grasped his friend’s hand tightly between both of his own, slender shaking fingers, pressing the thin delicate skin firmly to his lips, as if he could breathe the strength of his own life into his very veins. “I know, Harry, I know.”

“Valentine- is he-?”

” _ Hush _ , love, hush. Everythin’ is handled. Valentine was stopped, by yer boy, nae less.”

“Eggsy?”

“Aye. Eggsy.” Merlin’s smile lit up the whole of his face, and he set Harry’s hand down to the blankets. “A newly appointed Agent,” Harry’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and he could remember his heart almost stopping in his chest, could have sworn that the steady beeping of his heart monitor skipped a beat. “Guinevere.”

Guinevere?

Harry’s blood seemed to run cold. “I did not think that Eggsy was at all close to Arthur, but I see that has changed.” His voice was rough and deep and he was far too tired to keep the jealousy from tainting it.

Merlin simply rolled his eyes at his melodramatics, and pressed his hand back over Harry’s. “Ye silly bugger, I would have liked to have told ye when ye weren’t fresh out of a coma. The old Arthur double crossed us all, now you’re it. Congratulations.”

It was like Harry’s brain had finally caught up with his mouth. “I’m... But Eggsy… Eggsy’s…?”

“Ye very own Guinevere.”

Harry sunk back into the pillows, the IV tugging at his skin as he scrubbed a hand over the good side of his face. “You can not… Eggsy surely does not know what that means.”

“He knows enough, knows his own feelings, so do the rest of us, I might add.” Merlin gazed at him pointedly, and Harry sunk back into the pillows. “But he doesn’t know yours. So God help us, don’t blow this, Arthur. Knowing Guinevere, he’s not going te take a step near you considerin’ what happened during your last encounter. So tempt him close an’ treat him well, Harry, at the very least, the boy did save the world.”

\-----

The codename Guinevere was rarely appointed, there was only a handful of times in their history, and never in Harry’s time. The last time that he remembered was shrouded in secrecy, the previous Arthur who fell in love with his protege in a time where  _ it just wasn’t done _ . Only trusted to a chosen few, including Harry’s mentor, who spoke of them in fondness even until his dying day.

And before then, it was the case of Agent Lamorak, who was offered for Kingsman disguised as a man, who saved their Arthur’s life, and became the first woman Agent in Kingsman history, and another of the infamous Guinevere. 

And now Eggsy,  _ his _ Eggsy, was  _ his  _ Guinevere. It was almost like a dream, like a fairy tale, he and Eggsy were destined to become another important and freeing legend for many Kingsman agents to come. For Harry, it was like becoming a story for the whole of the world. 

He could almost imagine the tale, an Agent ahead of his time, fiercely rebelling against the old world rulers of his beloved world. Appointed to Arthur in a time of crisis, and falling in love with his beloved protege, a young man, who with Arthur’s help, had grown into the most strapping and admired agent in their new times. An Arthur who looked upon his Guinevere like pure sunlight radiated from his face when he smiled; like his own heart ached if he was sad; who trusted his him with his life both on the field and within home grounds. 

An Arthur that perhaps… would live his life in loving his Guinevere from afar. He did not know. 

He only knew what he dared to do.

Harry wondered how Eggsy’s part of the story would unfold.

“Please, give me a moment, Merlin. This has all been very overwhelming.”

“Alright, but my office when you’re done. We’ve still got other protocols to go over, Arthur.”

And with a clap to the shoulder, Merlin let him be. Harry stood for a moment, listening to his friend’s footsteps disappear down the hallway, the door closing with a solid thud and click. His hands were clasped behind his back, his good eye gently closed, and he stood feet firmly rooted to the ground. 

He wasn’t alone, could feel warmth and affection like a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, and Harry ached for him to come closer, to take himself out of the shadows that he had banished himself to. It was chilling him to the bone that he was this  _ afraid _ . Never during the early days of recovery had Harry thought that he was going to have to be without Eggsy by his side, thought that he would get even a fleeting moment to do his best to apologize to his darling boy.

But the days crept on, and Harry had to recover without Eggsy’s strength; but as Guinevere, Eggsy fulfilled his position as bodyguard in his own way. He sensed him in the darkness of his blind spot, saw him for moments out of the corner of his good eye, and Harry tried with all his might to summon up the courage to confess to him that he loved him, to tell him to stay, but could never find the strength.

Until now.

He wouldn’t let Eggsy slip through his fingers this time; if he did, this might have well been the last.

He took a deep breath and held his shoulders back.

“Guinevere, would you come here please?”

Harry would never have expected his pleas to work. He liked to think that he was a man of upstanding character, a man that would face his fears head on, but every man had his infirmities, and he knew Eggsy was his. To see those beautiful blue eyes filled with the pain that Harry himself had caused him. He could hardly bear it, not until the end.

But he heard the gentle slow paced padding of Eggsy’s polished shoes on the stone of the chapel and Harry turned, couldn’t help the soft smile that spread over his face, changed his features from hard and determined to so filled with love his heart seemed to want to burst with it.

He thought his love was beautiful sitting among the crowd from the corner of the room, but that was nothing compared to the sight of him standing before him. It was like being greeted by an oasis after so long wandering in the desert. 

“Eggsy…” 

His suit was one of Kingsman’s finest, Andrew had outdone himself yet again in creating another masterpiece to be draped over his impeccable form. A gorgeous charcoal material with a barely there pinstripe, nipped in at the waist; although Eggsy hardly didn’t need it with the waistcoat that was fitted beneath, and a clean black tie secured perfectly around his neck.

The loveliest touch, Harry had to admit, was the cashmere scarf that was draped around his neck. He wanted so very much to be in place of it, a hand curled around his nape. 

“Hello, Arthur.”

His boy has his chin raised high, and Harry would have had to be hard done by to simply  _ ignore  _ the slight tremble in his lower lip. It hit the pit of his stomach, and he felt like he had swallowed a pint of iced water. He looked so held together, so  _ brave _ , and Harry was left to deal with the very fact that  _ he _ had made his love feel this way.

There was only one thing that Harry could have possibly done. 

“Harry- what are you-“

Despite the protesting of his knee, he sunk down in front of his Guinevere. He knew what he must look like, and the very prominent part of him that he had to admit was entirely peacock indeed hoped that that was the case. A King, in much sense of the word, kneeling before his Queen, and he could not help but take Eggsy’s hand in his own, bring his knuckles up to his lips to press a soft and gentle kiss there. He couldn't help but look up at his boy through his lashes, and Eggsy had a look that seems to border on absolute disbelief, edging on seeming like he was existing in a dream.

“Eggsy, please, would you tell me what an old man must do to be forgiven for my transgressions?”

“W-What? I don’t- what do you-?”

His young man looked as if he has forgotten what words were supposed to taste like in his mouth, as if the only sensation that was anchoring himself to this very world and this very moment, was the warmth of the gentle grip that Harry had on his hand.

“I know that you have every right to be angry with me, especially with the abhorrent way I treated you the… last time that we spoke.” Harry felt his resolve slip, the mere thought of the animosity that had filled his chest when he had heard that Eggsy had  _ failed _ his trial, well, it was a slippery slope that he dared not venture down again, “But if there is  _ anything _ that I can do to help rebuild your trust- to help earn your forgiveness  _ faster _ , please, you need just say it,” He felt utterly  _ greedy _ for it, and he couldn't honestly blame himself, “I will do anything to have my Queen standing by my side.”

\-----

It was a moment that felt like an eternity. 

Harry, looking up at Eggsy, trying so very hard to not rush his boy with his answer, not when he felt like they were standing on the precipice of something that was so much larger than the both of them. There were two ways that it all could have been brought to an end: 

With Eggsy becoming his Queen, Harry being blessed with the chance to stand by his side for the rest of his life. 

Or Eggsy denying him, and Harry losing him to the shadows once more.

Harry was so caught up in his thoughts that he was absolutely startled at the sight of the object of his affections sinking to his own knees to join him on the floor, and Harry would have ached for the warmth of his hand if he did not reach up to grasp his shoulders instead to steady him, afraid that he would all suddenly further. His cheeks were such a delicate shade of pink that had nothing to do with the warmth of the chamber, and his eyes were so so soft, glazed over with a look of relief and reverence and just-

Love.

Eggsy gripped his elbows tightly, as if he was afraid he would simply float away.

“Eggsy, are you alright?”

And he could only nod as Harry looked at him, a smile and a laugh tugging at the corners of his lips, and he could not help but slide his fingers up into Eggsy’s hair to gently cup the back of his head, like they simply belonged there.

“Kiss me.” Harry’s eyes widened in surprise, and he gave him a long and searching look. His voice was strained, desperate and tight, and Harry could tell that they were not the words that Eggsy had wanted to say, but he once more looked as if words had simply escaped him. 

There was no hint of malice, nothing but a growing smile and a small little sob, nothing to say that there was even the tiniest bit of a grudge remaining for all that Harry had done. Perhaps Harry had just been over dramatic, but that was a conversation for another time, not when his Guinevere was in his arms absolutely radiating love and happiness. 

There was simply no way that Harry could deny him any longer.

It was all that he could do, to nod, and he brought his hands up to gently cup Eggsy’s burning cheeks, and he swore to the heavens that he could feel the course of a shiver run through Eggsy’s body as their lips touched for the very first time, lighter than the wings of a butterfly.

It was over much too soon, and Harry did not chase after Eggsy’s lips as he pulled away. He could feel the air between them charge, and he lifted his own shaking hand to touch at Harry’s cheek, grazing the string of the eyepatch that blessedly blocked half of his gaze. To view this moment with more than one eye, perhaps the mere sight of this love and light would kill him.

“I’ll always stand by your side… My King.”

Harry could barely contain himself, and the smile of pure joy that spread over his lips, and his eyes crinkled with happiness, even behind that blasted eyepatch.

And when Harry surged forward and just  _ swept _ Eggsy into another kiss, this one, well, it lasted for a small eternity.

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
